Mardela's defense sparks fast-break win

Rebuilding Rams cannot keep pace in 64-19 loss

Jan. 7, 2014

Written by

Staff Writer

A highly anticipated matchup last year between the Mardela and Parkside girls basketball teams did not carry over to the current season.

The Warriors defended their way to a 64-19 victory over the rebuilding Rams.

Parkside hung in there for the first four minutes, but Mardela began to take over. The Warriors held the Rams scoreless from the 5:10 minute mark of the first quarter, until junior guard Amirah Carolina hit her first free throw of the night with 4:14 left in second quarter.

Parkside head coach Warren White said his team took Mardela out of its element for just a little bit, but slowly they failed to continue to execute. Warriors’ head coach Kesha Cook said part of the slow start was due to a lack of practice, and it took them awhile to get them going.

The Warriors used an array of fast break options from the Rams’ turnovers. Whether it was senior guard Shakema Dashiell, junior guard DeMyra Selby or Taylor Ross, Mardela made easy layups to build its lead.

“Tonight, I thought early in the first quarter that we were playing basketball,” White said. “Again, what (Mardela) did, they got into their transition and once they got that early lead that was pretty much it. Our kids just mentally shut down.”

Parkside was 3 of 15 from the free-throw line and 2 of 19 from field, White said. Four of the final five buckets for the Warriors were easy layups to take a 19-3 lead after the first.

The story remained the same in the second.

The youth of the Rams didn’t allow them to execute to get back in the game, White said.

Selby added a free throw and another open layup to increase the lead to 22-3 with 6:50 remaining in the half. She had 16 points for Mardela in the game.

“That was an important part of the game,” Cook said. “For the players as well, their shots weren’t falling like they normally do. I told them, ‘Just concentrate on the defensive end, keep playing defense and it will produce easy shots for the offense.’ ”

(Page 2 of 2)

The Warriors listened to their coach’s words of wisdom.

Tasjah Davis contributed to the Warriors 38-6 halftime lead with all of her six points in the second quarter. Davis grabbed a few offensive rebounds, a 3-pointer and a 3-point play in the frame.

On the other end, Carolina continued to become more frustrated. She was constantly picking herself off the ground or missing shots from the charity stripe.

She did end the Rams’ scoring drought midway through the second. She led the Rams with seven points after two 3-pointers in the second half.

The one shining moment in the third quarter for Carolina was a 3-pointer she made while being fouled as time expired.

She missed the free throw and was 1 of 8 for the night.

Mardela did not just come into the game focusing on stopping Carolina, who leads the Rams in scoring, Cook said. Defense as a whole was the Warriors’ main focus.

“Anytime you play a good team, you have to play all five,” Cook said. “Our goal was to come out and play good strong defense on all five, make sure we held them to one shot only.”

Cook continued to rotate her bench, and White kept his starting five out there to continue their growth experience.

As the growing pains of the Rams continued, the Warriors continued their path of dominance. Mardela’s next challenges include James M. Bennett and Wicomico, while Parkside takes on Wicomico as well and Pocomoke.

Cook said Mardela needs to continue to improve game to game if they want to make a deep run into the playoffs.

“Being able to execute on offense because if you play good pressure defense you get easy shots, and our goal is to in every game execute on offense,” Cook said. “Because there will be a time where we need to execute in the half court.”